Revolut's US bank to offer stablecoin services alongside FDIC-insured products

Revolut's U.S. bank plans to offer FDIC-insured products like high-yield investment and checking accounts alongside stablecoin services, according to Reuters, which spoke with the recently appointed Revolut U.S. CEO Cetin Duransoy.

The company is not planning to open physical branches in the U.S., though Duransoy said clients will have access to ATM networks.

Revolut applied for a U.S. banking charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in early March after dropping plans to acquire a U.S. lender.

That came amid a wave of charter applications from crypto firms as the OCC and other U.S. regulators signaled a more favorable approach. Kraken, for instance, in March became the first crypto-native firm to receive a "skinny" master account with the Federal Reserve, giving it direct access to core U.S. payment systems.

There were at least 14 OCC de novo banking applications last year, more or less matching the total amount filed during the more conservative Biden administration, The Block previously reported.

UK-based Revolut has long targeted U.S. expansion as part of its plans to develop "the world's first truly global bank" — modest ambitions, clearly.

Earlier this year, Revolut received regulatory approval to launch a fully licensed bank in the United Kingdom.

The fintech has also increasingly warmed to crypto. Last year, the firm tapped Polygon to enable remittances, POL staking, and crypto card payments in its main app. The company was also selected by the Financial Conduct Authority to join a fiat-pegged stablecoin sandbox payments trial.

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